Billington Works / Work

My own family · 2026

A family command center I built for our kitchen wall

Everyone's week, the kids' chores, games, a photo booth, and smart home controls, on one touchscreen with no monthly fee.

The calendar: week, by person, schedule, and month, everyone in their own color. The badge on a kid's activity shows which parent is taking them. Shown with a made-up family.
~$300
in hardware
$0
a month to keep it running
5
people's schedules on one screen

The situation

Two working parents, a five-year-old with a full slate of activities, and two toddlers whose nap times change by the week. Our calendar lived in our phones, which meant it lived nowhere anyone else could see. The kitchen was where plans fell apart.

The store-bought wall calendars each did part of what we wanted. The one I liked cost too much at the size we wanted, plus a monthly fee. The cheaper one I bought was too small and not good enough to keep using.

What I built

  • A family calendar with week, month, schedule, and by-person views, everyone in their own color. It syncs both ways with our Google Calendars, and we can assign who is taking each kid to each activity.
  • Chores and game time for kids who can't read yet: picture buttons and stars for every chore, and the kids ask for game time on the wall. A companion app on our phones approves it, shows the day's calendar and chores, and can lock the wall.
  • Things to play: a drawing app where every animal sticker makes its sound, a bubble-pop game and a memory game I made for the kids, a music studio, and a photo booth with filters I designed.
  • Smart home controls for the devices around the house: lights, fans, and the garage doors, one tap each. When nobody is using it, the screen plays our family photo album.

It runs on a used 24-inch medical-grade touchscreen that can survive a spilled cup of juice, with a retired office computer mounted behind it. Everything runs on that computer, so our schedule stays in our house.

For your business

The same kind of wall screen works for a shop floor or an office: today's jobs, who is out, and what needs attention, without anyone opening an app.

Why custom

None of the products on the market did everything we wanted, and the good ones charged every month. Building it means every piece fits how our family actually runs, and when we need something new, like a recipe app or a game the kids and I make together, I add it.

Chores with picture buttons and stars, one column per kid.
Chores with picture buttons and stars, one column per kid.
Smart home controls by room: lights, fans, climate, the garage, and the security panel.
Smart home controls by room: lights, fans, climate, the garage, and the security panel.
The drawing app. Every animal sticker makes its sound. Games and the drawing app open for a set time when a grown-up says so.
The drawing app. Every animal sticker makes its sound. Games and the drawing app open for a set time when a grown-up says so.
The music studio: pick Old MacDonald and the band, with a cow, a duck, and a pig, plays it. Kids can swap instruments or build their own song.
The photo booth with custom filters, shown with a licensed stock photo (Vlada Karpovich, Pexels) as the camera.
The photo booth with custom filters, shown with a licensed stock photo (Vlada Karpovich, Pexels) as the camera.
When nobody is using it, the screen plays a family photo album with what's up next.
When nobody is using it, the screen plays a family photo album with what's up next.
A kid asks for game time on the wall; a parent approves it on their phone.
A kid asks for game time on the wall; a parent approves it on their phone.

Built with

Preact and TypeScript wall app · Node server on a mini PC · Google Calendar sync · Home Assistant · built with Claude Code

Have a workflow like this?

Most projects scope in a 30-minute call. Tell me where the time goes.

brent@billingtonworks.comCall